SCOTTS RUN MINERS' WALK: A COMMUNITY OF CURATORS OF THE COAL HISTORY IN SCOTTS RUN, WEST VIRGINIA

Abstract

West Virginia's coal mining history is long and rich, with many cultures intersecting with the industry. As coal mining shrank from the industry it used to be, poor families were left in the once-prosperous coal towns, unable to afford to move to find better jobs. The natural landscape had yielded to the industry, and the remnants of mining remain, evocative relics of an earlier era. As the coal companies moved on, these towns and landscapes were left at a loss for how to move forward.

This thesis investigates ways to revitalize an abandoned landscape and to engage people in their cultural history. Reading the remnants and fragments of industry, and the landscape as clearings, seams and runs, it proposes architectural interventions in six places on the site that are connected by various path types meant to encourage visitors to experience the culture and history of coal mining in West Virginia.